San
José - Opening Remarks
Opening Remarks for Working Meeting
of Experts on Drugs and Human Security in
the Americas
by the Hon. David Kilgour, Secretary of
State (Latin America and Africa)
Radisson Europa and Conference Centre
San José, Costa Rica, March, 28 1999
(Spanish)
I’m delighted to be here today in
Costa Rica and to have the opportunity,
together with Madame Minister of Justice
Monica Nagel Berger, of Costa Rica, to address
the first Working Meeting of Experts on
Drugs and Human Security in the Americas
under the auspices of the Foreign Ministers'
Dialogue Group on Drugs.
(English)
You are a gathering of distinguished experts
and I’m confident that the discussions
that will take place here over the next
two days will prove instrumental in providing
our foreign ministers with a detailed agenda
of issues that can be discussed at the first
meeting of the Dialogue Group in Guatemala
City in June. At the outset, I wish to thank
the consortium of institutions that have
organized this meeting for the tremendous
work they have done. These are the International
Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal
Justice Policy, the Instituto Latino Americano
de Naciones Unidas para la Prevención del
Delito y Tratamiento del Delincuente, the
Canadian Foundation for the Americas and
the Nathanson Centre for the Study of Organized
Crime and Corruption. I would also like
to thank the Government of Costa Rica for
their support for this initiative and for
the hospitality that the Costa Rican people
have extended to us.
Context
Since the late 1980s, drugs have become
public enemy number one, embodying the "new
lack of order" that characterizes the
post-Cold War world. While the features
of globalization, such as porous borders,
economic integration, and instant communications
have greatly benefited legitimate business,
they have also helped illegitimate activities
such as the global drug trade. The drug
system has adapted ingeniously to globalization,
operating on an international scale that
recognizes neither nationalities nor borders.
As with the effective marketing of any product
at the end of the twentieth century, the
drug networks involve strategies and tactics
that bring different cultures, attitudes
and principles into contact, affecting them
in various ways, depending on the particular
drugs involved.
(French)
The drug problem is still too often portrayed
in the media as simply a contest of law
enforcement from the developed world vs
drug barons from the developing world, or
as a plague affecting the poorer inner cities
of North America. As you know, the reality
is much more pervasive and complex. Countries
can no longer be neatly packaged as drug
"producers" or "consumers."
Today, so-called consumer countries are
significant producers and traditional producers
are seeing a steady rise in domestic consumption.
The detrimental effects of the drug trade
are as broad and insidious as they are indisputable.
The industry has empowered organized criminals,
engendered corruption in governments, eroded
domestic security, stimulated violence and
distorted economic markets. These lead to
the undermining of respect for human rights
and democratic institutions and contribute
to deepening inequities in our region.
(English)
Tackling the drug problem requires co-operative
action among governments and the support
and involvement of non-state actors. In
this regard, I am proud to say that the
response of the hemisphere to the drug scourge
has been impressive. There is a consensus
in the Americas that successfully fighting
the drug menace involves more than interdiction
efforts. We need a strategy that is balanced
and comprehensive in three key areas: demand
reduction; domestic law enforcement; and
international supply reduction. This balanced
approach is exemplified by the Hemispheric
Anti-Drug Strategy, which is being implemented
by OAS member states as coordinated by
CICAD,
the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission.
One cannot overemphasize the valuable work
CICAD has done and continues to do in countering
narco-trafficking and related crime and
corruption. The Multilateral Evaluation
Mechanism (MEM), which will help strengthen
mutual confidence, dialogue and hemispheric
cooperation in order to confront better
the diverse aspects of the hemisphere’s
drug problem, is only one aspect of the
important work being done by CICAD.
(Spanish)
Human Security
As indicated earlier, the events of the
past decade have enabled the international
community to leave the well-worn paths of
the Cold War era, leading us instead into
the uncharted territory of the new millennium.
I should now like to spend a few moments
outlining how Canada is responding to the
challenges facing our changing world in
the area of international security.
This last decade has seen dramatic changes
to the international architecture; the nature
of threats to global security is evolving.
Challenges posed by illicit drugs, terrorism,
environmental degradation, human rights
abuses and weapons proliferation have become
more acute. These threats respect no borders
and cut across many disciplines. They have
a direct impact on the quality of our lives.
Our traditional guidebook for global security
is in need of a major update.
Our respective civilians are increasingly
the main targets of the new security threat
– especially the most vulnerable. No
one is immune – we are all affected.
To address this concern, the international
community is being mobilized to address
subjects that affect everyday lives. Promoting
humanitarian objectives – protection
from abuse, reducing risks of physical endangerment
and improving quality of life, providing
a new impetus for concerted global action.
These new threats require that we see security
increasingly in terms of human, rather than
state needs.
In this context, Canada has been reshaping
and refocusing our own foreign policy priorities.
We are increasingly occupied with issues
that strike directly home to the individual.
This human security-centred approach is
based on a number of elements, several of
which are exemplified in the Foreign Ministers’
Dialogue Group initiative. They include:
- Engagement not isolation: For sooner
or later, directly or indirectly, others’
insecurity becomes our problem, and in
some cases, our insecurity. The transboundary
nature of many of the challenges we face
makes co-operative action all the more
essential if they are to be confronted
effectively.
- Reforming existing international and
regional organizations: institutions established
in a different era, such as the UN Security
Council and the OAS, need to reflect better
the changing nature of the threats to
peace and security – especially their
human dimension.
- Pursuing new, innovative partnerships
and coalitions: has become evident that
foreign policy is no longer simply the
preserve of nation-states and diplomats.
New players on the international scene,
including non-governmental organizations,
business associations, and trade unions
can play a productive role in achieving
objectives.
- Using "soft power" creatively:
negotiation rather than coercion, powerful
ideas rather than powerful weapons, public
diplomacy rather than backroom bargaining
– all these are effective means to
pursue many elements of human security.
In the information age, new communications
tools in particular should be used effectively
in the service of our goals.
(Spanish)
Goal of
the Dialogue Group
All of these factors have caused Canada’s
foreign policy to focus activities and attention
on certain fundamental problems relating
to human security. This has been our perspective
in hemispheric forums such as the Dialogue
Group on Narcotics, led by the foreign ministers.
The Dialogue Group is an initiative of our
Foreign Minister (Lloyd Axworthy) as a gathering
of hemispheric partners to examine the multifaceted
threat which illicit drugs represent for
society from the standpoint of human security.
(English)
Since the Group was proposed at the Second
Summit of the Americas in Santiago by Prime
Minister Chrétien in April 1998, Minister
Axworthy has been proceeding deliberately
in its development. In January of this year,
the minister wrote to hemispheric foreign
ministers inviting them to join him in the
Dialogue Group and provided a paper that
set out the issues which will serve as a
point of reference for the discussion here
in San José.
The Dialogue Group is a forum for Foreign
Ministers to consider the links between
our region’s drug-related problems
and the broader human security and governance
needs of the peoples of the Americas, and
to propose concrete actions which could
be undertaken in response. We feel that
engaging Foreign Ministers, who can provide
a political perspective to these issues
as their position in government allows them
to straddle domestic and international policy,
has the potential to add real value to the
struggle against the threat posed by drugs.
As one of several envoys appointed by Minister
Axworthy to travel the region and solicit
reaction and opinions from hemispheric governments
on the Dialogue Group, I am pleased that
the hemispheric response to the initiative
has been overwhelmingly positive. The presence
here of a large number of participants nominated
by foreign ministers is a testament to the
interest the Dialogue Group has generated
Objectives
of Meeting
The purpose of this meeting is to examine
thoroughly the issues set out in Minister
Axworthy’s letter to his colleagues
from the perspective of policy options that
Foreign Ministers can consider at the first
meeting of the Dialogue Group in Guatemala
City in early June. This includes identifying
issues where ministers can make a contribution
by initiating action or lending political
support to activities already underway,
or identifying new priority areas where
Foreign Ministers can make a difference.
If I could make a suggestion, I would ask
that your discussion focus on what Foreign
Ministers can usefully do.
In his letter and the accompanying paper,
Minister Axworthy put forward five areas
that the Dialogue Group might usefully consider.
These are:
(French)
- Governance: fragile democratic institutions
and the absence of full guarantees for
human rights can undermine anti-drug efforts.
We ask you to examine issues such as options
for enhancing the capacity of judicial
institutions to guarantee impartial justice
and human rights and to discuss ways of
building on efforts to minimize corruption
and curtail the political influence of
drug-related criminal organizations.
(English)
- Small arms and firearms: the proliferation
of illegal firearms adds to the arsenals
of drug traffickers, undercuts law enforcement
and jeopardizes public security. We ask
you to examine how profits from the illicit
trade in firearms can be prevented from
empowering criminals and criminal organizations?
How can greater transparency be brought
to the legal trade in firearms?
- Development and trade: the difficulties
of sustaining legal alternatives to the
cultivation of plant-based drugs, and
of gaining access to markets for those
legal goods, complicates supply-reduction
efforts. We ask you to explore ways to
increase the effectiveness of alternative
development, and to improve market access
for legal alternatives to illicit drug
crops.
- Education and Health: many promising
programs are underway to educate youth
and other high-risk groups on the alternatives
to drug abuse, and to treat those who
end up abusing those substances. We ask
you to discuss issues such as how to promote
research on the effectiveness of demand-reduction
programs in different national settings
and how foreign ministers might enhance
international cooperation in this area.
- Public engagement: recent international
agreements, including the Santiago Plan
of Action and several documents adopted
at the UN General Assembly Special Session
on the World Drug Problem, called for
greater collaboration with civil society
organizations working on drugs and broader
human security issues. We ask you to consider
how we might encourage public initiatives
and how we might increase the involvement
of public and private groups in a dialogue
on policy options.
These are certainly not the only drug-related
issues of concern in the hemisphere. They
are, however, matters on which we believe
Foreign Ministers can make a significant
contribution. They would help to ensure
coherence among existing efforts, reinforce
promising initiatives that deserve more
support and foster innovation in engaging
our citizens in the search for solutions.
There are undoubtedly other avenues we could
pursue to enhance cooperation in this area.
Using the results of the meeting of experts
and the information obtained by envoys from
governments, we will develop an agreed agenda
of items that can be discussed by foreign
ministers in June at the first meeting of
the Dialogue Group in Guatemala City. After
Guatemala, we will consider the views expressed
and review with our partners how best to
proceed. An important part of this process
will be consideration of how best to ensure
that experts such as yourself can play an
ongoing role in this process. Although a
detailed critical path has not yet been
developed, our activities after June will
lead towards two hemispheric events to be
held in Canada: the 2000 OAS General Assembly
and ultimately the Third Summit of the Americas,
to be held in late 2000/early 2001, where
Canada intends to present the first report
on the deliberations of the Dialogue Group.
(Spanish)
Our changing world has redefined traditional
notions of security. The security threats
which we face are leading us more and more
to take action aimed at guaranteeing the
security of the individual. I am confident
that the nations of the Americas can work
together through this meeting of experts
in San Jose, to ensure that the Foreign
Ministers' Dialogue Group Dialogue Group
will make an important contribution toward
building human security in our hemisphere.
Finally, we welcome your participation in
this meeting, and I wish you every success
and hope that your two days will be both
pleasant and productive.
Thank you.
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